PARIS (Reuters) – UNESCO must be notified of any change in the status of Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia museum and the changes may have to be reviewed by its World Heritage committee, the United Nation’s cultural body said on Thursday. Turkey’s top admi... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The coronavirus lockdowns have hit the world’s museums very hard and more than 10 percent may never reopen while others will have to put new projects on hold, the United Nations’ cultural body UNESCO said. A survey of almost 1,600 museums in ... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece distanced itself on Wednesday from suggestions that it planned to drag a centuries-old dispute over the return of the Parthenon marbles into Brexit negotiations. Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Athens would keep up its campai... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will step up its campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles from Britain and expects to win more support from European peers as Brexit sees British influence wane, the Greek culture minister said. Since independence in 1832, Gre... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop in Cairo’s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the U.S.-trai... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop in Cairo’s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the U.S.-trai... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt on Sunday launched a revamp of the Egyptian Museum, promising to preserve and enhance the storied site even as it loses its most famous collection. Located in the heart of Cairo on Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum has long been the fo... More »
CYRENE, Libya (Reuters) – Graffiti covers the walls of a Greek amphitheatre in Cyrene, an ancient ruined city in eastern Libya now struggling with neglect, vandals and illegal confiscation of land by locals. The deserted souvenir shops and cafes on the mountai... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – The last shadow puppeteer in Damascus lost most of his equipment to war and endured life as a refugee in Lebanon, but he now believes the old Syrian art form might survive after the United Nations said it needed to be saved. Traditional sh... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece wants the Parthenon Marbles back from the British Museum, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in London on Tuesday, trying to reinvigorate a longstanding campaign for the 2,500-year-old treasures. British diplomat Lord Elgin removed th... More »
The United Nations' cultural agency will elect a new chief on Friday, seeking someone who can revive UNESCO's fortunes after the United States and Israel pulled out. More »
When Israel's envoy told UNESCO delegates last July that fixing the plumbing in his toilet was more important than their latest ruling, it highlighted how fractious geopolitics are paralyzing the workings of the agency. More »
A 2,000-year old statue badly damaged by Islamic State in Palmyra went on display on Sunday in Damascus after being restored. More »
A girl walks in front of a graffiti painted on the wall of a house located inside the 15th-century complex built by Mameluk Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, in Cairo’s City of the Dead, Egypt February 13, 2017. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh On a winding road leading int... More »
SARAJEVO A World Heritage listing for 70,000 medieval tombstones spread across four countries that emerged from Yugoslavia’s bloody break up in the 1990s was praised on Monday as a rare example of successful cooperation between the former foes. Bosnia, Croatia... More »
LONDON A meticulous recreation of the 1,800-year-old Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, destroyed by Islamic State militants last year, has been erected in Trafalgar Square in what London Mayor Boris Johnson called an act of defiance. The 5.5-metre (20ft) mode... More »
BEIRUT Syrian government forces backed by heavy Russian air support drove Islamic State out of Palmyra on Sunday, inflicting what the army called a mortal blow to militants who seized the city last year and dynamited its ancient temples. The loss of Palmyra re... More »
PARIS U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday lobbied for the United States to be reelected to UNESCO’s board, promising to work with Congress to restore funding after Washington cut off its contributions in 2011 in protest over the Palestinians being adm... More »
CRADLE OF HUMANKIND, South Africa Humanity’s claim to uniqueness just suffered another setback: scientists reported on Thursday that a newly discovered ancient species related to humans also appeared to bury its dead. Fossils of the creature were unearthed in ... More »
